Fine Line
by AlternativeRocker
Summary: "It's a standstill between love and pride. It's a fine line between you and I." - Joy Williams. Serena is away on business in America until Eleanor is taken ill and put in Ric's care.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note:** New chapter story. This is just a short introduction to the fic before the story starts properly in the next one.

* * *

It was the end of a late-night shift for the both of them when they walked out the front doors and in to the car park. "Serena," Ric called after her as he caught up. "You were not going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?"

In the morning Serena would be taking a flight to Washington DC and staying for slightly more than one month to help with a contract for Holby which she had spearheaded. She and Ric had discussed the matter at great length as neither trusted why Guy Self would allow her to go for so long considering the work she would be doing should not last that duration. She had said four weeks to the CEO simply to see how far she could push it before he realised she was just wanting a bit more time away but he had simply signed off on it without a question.

"Are you going to miss me?" She teased.

He rolled his eyes in reply before smiling, "I wouldn't say that. I'm stunned that you are allowing me to back to full reign on Keller."

"Don't remind me!" As much as she was kidding around with him she truly felt worried about letting go of the ward, even if she did actually trust Ric a bit more than she acted. They had both been running between Keller and AAU that he was prepared to be much calmer being back on the single ward as even Mr Self could see that there was no way Ric could run both to a suitable standard.

"Have a good time."

"I will." They stood looking at each other, unsure how they felt about not seeing their colleague for four weeks.

"Where is Eleanor spending the time?" Ric asked, thinking it would be safer to stay on neutral ground than delve further in to the feelings they did not understand.

"With her father; I know it is a ridiculous idea but I have no other option." Ric could see she was still angry with her ex but he did believe she was over him on a romantic level.

Serena loved her daughter but found herself unable to allow the nineteen year old to stay in their house alone, fearing the mess that she would come back to after the obligatory house parties. Thankfully she would be going back to university almost as soon as Serena returned so they would have some time apart which - after a number of months together - would be quite welcomed. The past week had been additionally tougher as Eleanor had been under the weather with some sort of food poisoning which meant she was vomiting a couple of times a day, especially when attempting to keep meals down and it had turned her incredibly moody.

Over the two and a half years they had known the person opposite them the easiest contact they had seemed to be kissing the other's cheek. The most awkward of those had been when Edward had been watching before Ric's disastrous alumni dinner but they had put that time to the furthest away part of their brain. She leaned in just as he did the same and it worked perfectly. Their lips touched the side of the other's face and stayed there for longer than they had intended.

"Well... I will see you in thirty-three days."

Tilting her head to the side a playful glint showing in her eyes, "That almost sounds like you will be counting them down."

"I need to know how long I have to make Keller what it once was."

"You would require years to do that if I ever properly leave."

"Holby will crumble to its knees without your suggestions." He took a step back from her, aware how close they had become over the course of the few minutes in the car park. The conversation could have finished a long time before but they had noticed they had a habit of extending their interactions without any intent.

There were no mentions of keeping in touch while she was in the States, they still did not act like good friends outside of the hospital walls, but they knew that for the immediate future the absence of their antagonist would be quite a change. He watched her turn away and he shook his head, he had never met anyone like Serena Campbell before and honestly he did not truly want to meet one again. She was enough for one life. Ric was about to walk to his own car when he noticed her turn her head once more and waved; it was at that moment they sensed they needed time apart from each other to gain a better grasp of what they wanted from the friendship.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note:** Sorry for the long wait, I realised I should have a little chapter of them being totally apart in their different places and then I had no idea what to write for it.

* * *

Ric was coping well with having Keller back under his own supervision but after all the time he had spent getting used to working with Serena it felt a little strange not to hear her over the madness. What made it even worse was that on the day of her having been away for two weeks a patient was admitted who had the exact type of argumentative attitude which Ric couldn't stand but Serena would have took in her stride and got some pleasure from.

"But why can you not simply send me home if you agree I am well enough?" Ric could understand the man's frustration but after almost an hour of going around in this same circle he was tired of the whole matter.

"Some of your levels are still higher than I would like to see."

"I am not concerned by them, I feel better and I can take care of myself."

"Mr Wilson, this is not an argument - you can discharge yourself if you wish - but I would advise you to stay just for one night." The older man glared at Ric while muttering a few exclamations containing some choice insults but eventually stopped and lay back on the bed, knowing his family would have told him to make sure he was okay.

Ric walked away, running a hand across his face as he remembered when he and Serena used to divide their patient lists based on who could handle which. As much as they has disagreed most days over allotted theatre slots at least there had been somebody of his own level to discuss matters with and throw around diagnostic ideas with.

Turning back to look at the ward he realised there was a change of pace from the days before Me Campbell. The nurses were so used to Serena's method of treating the patients as quickly as possible which made him feel as though she was still hiding somewhere nearby and that he was secondary to her ward management. He shook his head in disbelief before returning to his office, wanting to email her to tell her all of the little bits and pieces such as the elderly gentleman that had occurred since her departure.

* * *

Serena had missed America. She knew that as soon as she stepped off the plane, and it was not just because of the weather or being away from home as it was the entire feeling of the place. She had felt the same during her time at Harvard after years of vowing to move permanently to the States and it looked set in stone when she had been offered a job in a leading hospital as a graduate doctor with additional background in business management. Her life had been fantastic for a number of years as she met and fell head over heels for Edward Campbell, her career was gaining momentum and all in all she was living her dream.

Eleanor was a surprise - an unplanned but eventually welcomed surprise - but within the year rumours started about Edward and one of the student nurses. Serena could see now that he had been lying when he denied it but while in that bubble of contentment she believed him completely. The gossip turned when he split from the girl and somehow he managed to convince her that moving back to England would be the best for all three of them, and as her daughter was more important than any job she found herself where she didn't want to be. They worked in different hospitals this time but Edward's philandering still made its way to her ears and along with not being happy her suspicion and anger boiled over until she had picked up Eleanor and walked out of the house.

Being back in America was good though even with the connected memories, she needed the break and was loving every second of witnessing how the medical profession differed from home. The only point of contention she had was with the man who held the equivalent of her job -he was in his late fifties or early sixties and treated her as though she was still a pre-med student who didn't know one end of a scalpel from the other. Thankfully the contact deal was being discussed with the CEO who Serena had found a lot of common ground. He was the stable kind of man who she would love to see hersellf with but she was only visiting and he was fifteen years younger with a wife and newborn who he could not be closer to. She had to keep herself in check, she did not need the hassle of a holiday fling and she was not entirely at peace with the fact she had had the one-night stand at Ric's university evening but she was doing everything to erase that whole event from her mind.

Ric... surprisingly she had not thought about most of the Holby staff since going away but when she did it was usually him that sprung to mind. There was a niggling part of her subconscious with every patient she encountered that asked what he would do under the given circumstances, which was not helpful as it almost always went against what she initially thought was the correct proceedings. It did keep her grounded though and made her see things from a different angle and occasionally - she told herself it was only once or twice - she listened to the reasoning of imaginary Ric and went for his option.

The one thing Serena knew she hated being apart from was Eleanor although her daughter was older now and was starting to become more independent. Every night Serena phoned her daughter's mobile so she avoid any awkward conversation with Edward. Sometimes the girl had been out either at a friend's or the shops so the chat did not last long but it was nice to hear her voice. Although it was the call one particular Friday night, two weeks into the trip, which gave Serena cause for concern as she was told by Ellie the food poisoning bug she had before was still giving her problems so persuaded the teenager to book an appointment with her GP for early the following week to rule out any virus or infection. Plalcing her phone back on the small wooden bedside table for the first time she wished she was back home instead of in a different country.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Note:** Quite a short chapter here. I was going to bring Edward in on this one but I might do that next.

* * *

AAU was having a busy evening on which Ric was working night shift with Mary-Clare who walked across to him after getting off the phone. "Mr Griffin, we are getting a transfer from the ED. Nineteen year old female, severe abdominal pains which have progressed from dull aches which had been put down to food poisoning."

"Can ED not deal with it?" He sighed, wondering where they could possibly hold another patient.

"They are even fuller than we are, and this girl looks to have an enlarged spleen so possible theatre requirement."

When the patient was brought up to the ward Ric recognised her immediately and knew his day was going to go downhill from that moment on.

"Eleanor? Do you remember me, I am Ric Griffin."

They both knew he would not really need to introduce himself but they went along with the formalities.

"I remember you from before and mum talks about you sometimes. She told me to get an appointment with my GP the other night when the theory of it being something I had ate was shot down in flames, I was going to call them tomorrow but it got really bad." It had only been two days since the conversation with Serena and she had truly intended to follow through with her wishes.

"You did the right thing coming here, we have to do a couple of scans to know what is causing it but you do have a very swollen spleen which could be the result of a number of problems."

They were joined by the nurse Eleanor only remembered as having an Irish accent whom Ric started to speak to. "Eleanor Campbell is Serena and Edward's daughter. I will be in charge of her as she knows me and I will get in contact with Ms Campbell. Nurse Carter, I would like LFTs, Us and Es, and CBC. Then could you call Edward to inform him?" Mary-Clare simply nodded, long since bored of arguing that she had better things to do with her time and that he had other patients.

"I tried to phone dad instead of getting am ambulance but he wasn't answering."

The consultant smiled kindly down at her, "We will find him and I am sure your mother will want to speak to you about your condition. Now, do you mind if I take a look or would you rather have somebody else?" He could easily get a nurse but the girl just shrugged, she had grown up around doctors and knew to trust the ones who were not completely sleazy.

"Knock yourself out." She reminded Ric so much of Serena from time to time that he had to conceal a smirk at the familiar tone of sarcasm. He mentally noted that she was thinner than the last time she popped in to see her mum at work, and although he knew the desire of her age group to be slim he believed that Serena would have ensured she was having full meals, which led to him correctly assuming that it was a recent development.

"How has your appetite been recently?"

"I suppose I haven't been eating as much as usual but half the time when I do try to have a meal it comes up again within a few hours later."

"How long has that occurring for?"

"The loss of appetite has maybe been three weeks and vomiting, maybe a week."

* * *

Serena switched her mobile on and noticed two missed calls from Holby and one from Edward, she even glimpsed that she had a text from Ric but before she had the chance to look at it a call came through which she answered.

"I seem to be an awfully popular person today."

"Serena, it is Ric here."

"Hi, what's the matter? Realising you aren't up to the pace?" He could correctly guess that she was smirking wildly down the phone and he hated that he had to bring the reality to her.

"No, Serena, it is regarding Eleanor."

"What? Has something happened?!" She stopped in her tracks, thankfully there was nobody behind her in the corridor to slam into her. Raising her hand to her mouth she felt it took an eternity for him to respond.

"She was brought in with abdominal pains, she has an enlarged spleen. I've been trying to phone you since she was admitted."

"I was in meetings for the past hour or so. I forgot to phone her this morning, I didn't even realise until just now, oh god Ric. How bad is it?" He could hear the fear in her voice as her mind whirled through the causes of it which ranged from blood irregularities to cancer.

"We are waiting for an ultrasound and her bloods to come back but I think she might need a splenectomy. Serena, there are so many possibilities, please don't jump to the worst ones. You should also know that Edward is on his way; we just got through to him five minutes ago."

As ever his voice worked slightly as a calming agent but she still felt as though she was suffocating. "I'll be on the next flight back. Do the operation if you need to before I get there and ignore anything he chooses to say." She was not even considering what this would do to her placement in the American hospital wards or the contract it was leading to for Holby yet if she had she would still be going home. Her daughter - adult herself or not - was the one thing she would do, or give up, anything in the world for.

"Okay." He was not going to argue with her in this state and Eleanor did want someone she loved with her.

"Take care of her please." She knew he would and that her voice was beginning to break but she needed to adjust to the news that she had managed to fail her only child by not being there for her.

"Of course."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Note:** Sorry about the delay, had lots of ideas about the future stories contained in this fic so had to work out a new plan. I have not gone in to detail about the operation itself in this chapter but researched enough to be able to write a very brief part. Thank you for reading and/or reviewing!

* * *

Ric had finally managed to get the ultrasound machine but before he proceeded he decided to ask some of the routine questions. "Eleanor, is there any chance that you could be pregnant?" Although he would have her blood tests back soon he still wanted to ask before she had the scan. He also had a suspicion the vomiting was not necessarily a symptom of her illness.

"What? No!" The girl had answered before he had completed the question and she was not as confident in it as he would have liked.

He had treated enough young females to know when to continue pushing the matter. "We will find out with the ultrasound and blood tests." There was silence as they stared at each other, Eleanor glaring with everything she could muster until her resolve cracked.

"Well, I suppose there might have been this one time." Ric could hardly believe what he was hearing. As she began to nervously pick at the skin around her fingernails he could see she was terrified of her admission. "Do not tell my mum or dad, promise me you won't!"

"I can't if you don't want me to." He had no choice in the matter but it hit a nerve that he was going to be hiding something from the very second that Serena returned.

"Is that it there?" Eleanor asked quietly, amazed at what she was looking at.

"Yes, and I know you only just found out but if your dates are right then you are over three months so you have to think about your options."

Ellie simply nodded as she continued to look at her internal abdomen on the screen.

"Nurse Carter, could you get someone from gynaecology down as soon as possible?" If Edward arrived before it was over then there would be trouble so he hoped they were not too busy in that department. The nurse looked surprised but did not comment, knowing the Campbell family had been through a lot and that this could now an additional problem.

While he tidied up the machine and handed her some paper towels to wipe the gel from her skin he spoke softly, "You cannot simply hide it, your mother will catch on quickly."

"I'll tell her, just give me time, please Ric." He squeezed her shoulder gently, not knowing how to quell her fears in any other way.

* * *

By the time he returned after receiving her test results Ric saw Edward beside the bed. With a deep sigh he would have to invent some points to avoid the subject of the pregnancy. He was interrupted from his brainstorming by the Irish accent he had grown so used to hearing on AAU, although it was many decibels lower than normal as she spoke to him privately, "Mr Thompson spoke with Miss Campbell before Edward showed up so he has no idea. Apparently the baby seems to be well and is about fourteen weeks gone."

"Thank you, her bloods point to her having mono and she has quite a badly ruptured spleen."

Greeting both generations of Campbell, Ric explained what the medical issues were, mainly speaking to Eleanor as her expression reminded him constantly there was the secret that they had to dance around. "You have mononucleosis, it's a virus that usually makes you unwell for a week or two but yours has caused your spleen to greatly enlarge and rupture. That was why it felt more painful today. The tear itself is significant enough for me to recommend removal of the organ instead of a repair. Both removal and repair would carry their own risks but with a quick fix means that if it tears again it could be a lot worse," he wanted to tell her that if the latter situation occurred then the foetus would be larger and at a greater chance of being harmed from surgery.

"Are you sure that is the best plan for a teenager?"

"I admit I would rather keep the organ inside her but her condition is advancing."

"It is not jsut the surgery, if she gets an infection-" He was abruptly stopped in his concern by his daughter's voice.

"Dad, you can't just show up and pretend you are so worried! You are worse than mum because at least she remembers birthdays and Christmases, and she calls every day to see how I am when she is gone." She knew she was overreacting but could not stop herself.

"Ellie, love-"

"No! Can you leave me for a while?" Edward looked as though he was about to continue arguing but saw an expression in Ric's face that told him he would not be allowed to aggravate a patient, even his own daughter. He turned away and left the ward, deciding that he had to calm down before he said something regrettable to her which would lead to drowning his sorrows into vodka which he was doing well to avoid recently.

Eleanor looked up at Ric, wiping away the stray tears from her cheeks, "Thanks; I know this is awful for me to force you and the nurses to do this but I need to work out how to tell them both."

"If your father is still the same as when he worked here then he will support you even if he ends up moving away and is hard to contact. Your mum might be trickier but she loves you more than anything else in the world."

"I'm probably pushing my luck but if you get a chance could you think of a way for me to break it to her? You seem to get her more than most."

He had to chuckle at that, "Eleanor, I don't know what you assume but your mother and I disagree to no end."

"You don't like him, do you?" Ric knew she had switched to talking about Edward and had no idea how to respond, "It's okay, most of the time I don't either."

"He is good at his job when in the correct state of mind," she raised an eyebrow in the exact way Serena did that it was almost disconcerting, "I liked him a fair amount but I could have gladly hit him by the time he left."

His comment made the girl smile as she lay back on the uncomfortable bed, "Mum hardly ever mentions your arguments, usually it is about how you end up in a bar together and that you allow her to let off steam, you are like an unpaid therapist for her... She's tipsy when she gets in which is why she only recalls the good parts."

They both stayed silent for a moment before Ric decided to give her some time to herself, "I am going to find out if there is a free Theatre slot for you soon and if you feel worse just join in the rest of AAU's madness and shout for someone."

He found Edward just outside the swing doors to the ward but knew there was not a chance he could have overheard or worked out what was happening through through the dividing space. The ex-anaesthetist was stood with his back against the wall, breathing out deeply, clearly trying to pretend he was anywhere else. Ric could tell from his demeanor in the past twenty minutes that he was trying sobriety but as it was a new development he was still adjusting to the effect of total withdrawal. Sensing a presence Edward's eyes opened and nodded an acknowledgment before speaking, "If you think it is for the best thenn Eleanor will have the operation"

"Eleanor is an adult and although Serena also gave her consent it is not your choice."

"Yeah, but we are all professionals here so you will be understanding if we want to ensure she is receiving the best possible care." He sounded as self-confident as ever but with the aid of personal experiences Ric guessed it was all a front, the man in front of him was truly worried about his child while coming to terms with his own demons. "How is the lovely lady in question?"

"Serena will be here in a few hours, you can ask her yourself." Not that he wanted Serena to be put through the ordeal of talking to her ex-husband here did not feel it was right to discuss her with the other man.

"Has she got a man in her life yet?" In Edward's mind he and Serena would never be history and this event made him sure that they were destined to cross paths once more - he just had to find out if he would have to compete with anyone to get where he wanted to be.

"That is none of your - or my - business." Ric remembered that he had been such a supporter of Edward in the beginning because of Primary Defense but now the arrogance of his ex-colleague was hugely irritating. Having had his fill of Edward for the time being he walked away, wishing again that the day would soon be over.

Only Mary-Claire and the individuals involved in the surgery knew about the pregnancy and that was the way he intended to keep it. Knowing the history between the nurse and Edward made him feel uneasy to begin with in case she let the truth slip out through bitterness but she was treating Ellie like any other patient and barely glanced at her old flame. The splenectomy was carried out laproscopically as it would be in the majority of cases but with the complication the placement of the trocar was adjusted to accommodate the increased size of the uterus and an ultrasound aided in guiding the trocar. To minimize compression on the vena cava from her heart Eleanor was placed in the left lateral dicubitus position. The operation itself was a success and Ric was confident that he had made the correct choice about what to suggest as the preferable surgical route.


End file.
